The Gays of Our Times: I Want a Grindr Kind of Love

"They hooked up on Grindr. Ernesto wasn't physically attracted to Kyle, but he *was* attracted to Kyle's nice Seattle condo, which was much nicer than Ernesto's studio apartment. Ernesto sucked it up and now has a nice home, financial security (for now), and a cute dog."

Cute couple. And that doggie looks like a painting, just gorgeous.

"Ernesto sucked it up"

Like a black hole sucking me in dick first.

[quote] For their first Valentine’s Day, Mr. Labarry took Mr. Apreza to a cabaret show in downtown Seattle. He was impressed. “I was like, wow, this white boy has game,” Mr. Apreza said, laughing.

Mr. Apreza is very low maintenance.

There's only a 3 year age gap? I think someone fudged about their age.

But hey - they've been together for 10 years. That's a long time. Good for them.

On the one hand, it's nice that we've evolved enough as a society to celebrate couples' love stories, regardless of sexual orientation. On the other hand, I feel like we're living in such a narcissistic culture these days that everyone feels a need to share everything publicly and try and outdo everyone else with tales of how much more fantastic their lives are than yours. From elaborately choreographed first wedding dances that go viral on TikTok to airplane flyovers that emit pink or blue smoke that announce a baby's gender, it seems we're living in the "look what I can do!" generation.

R6 I work with a young woman who recently got engaged. Mind you, she's been living with the guy for five years and they bought a house together two years ago, but whatever.

She came into work and announced her engagement, showing off the ginormous rock her fiancé gave her to anyone who walked by. Then she pulled out her phone and showed everyone the Instagram video of the big moment. Apparently, her fiancé had hired a videographer who was hiding in the bushes to capture the proposal. I mean, really?

Then a few weeks later, another co-worker was talking about how he had bought a ring for his girlfriend and was wondering how he was going to pop the question. This woman immediately jumped in and started looking online for picturesque places he could propose at, then started giving him advice on making sure that his girlfriend was dressed nicely and that her hair and makeup were perfect, because she'd be mad if he proposed when she wasn't looking her best for the cameras. She then offered to hook him up with her fiancé's videographer so he could get the whole thing on camera, too.

Now this poor guy has extra pressure to make sure his engagement is like a Cecil B. DeMille production, when he probably just wanted to take his girlfriend out to a nice dinner and propose after dessert.

I agree with R6/R7 - although I will say it's nice that gay relationships and marriages are being reported on in NYT - they didn't do that for a looong time.

I just don't understand what's so special about this relationship.

And it sounds like the younger one, who recently came out when they met - has he BEEN with anyone else or in other gay relationships?

Gays and lesbians usually don't make a huge deal out of their proposals and marriages like straight people do. They're so obnoxious. Then again, gay relationships and weddings are given lower importance socially - they just are. And maybe that reflects that. They're usually not huge affairs and overly elaborate - whereas straights just go so overboard.

But then, I've never heard of too many gays or lesbians receiving ANY money from parents for their weddings or huge checks to fund down payment on houses, etc. It's very very rare.

I'm tired of straight celebrations - weddings (engagement party, bach/bachelorette parties, wedding), baby showers, sip and see, gender reveals - hell, even divorce parties and 2nd and 3rd weddings.

Ernie is hot.

The author definitely looks like an ‘Anna Grace.’

R8, they've become shakedowns. You look at gift registries for wedding gifts, and now you see they want you to contribute to payments for future vacations the couple may wish to take. I get that couples don't want traditional gifts anymore. Good. I'm more than happy to buy camping gear because the couple are outdoorsmen. But save up yourselves for the vacation.

His hole was like an MRI machine, it just sucks you in!

I’m glad they found each other.

"His hole was like an MRI machine"

Oh, no!

It’s the opposite of thrusting in its more like pulling yourself out because he keeps sucking you back in.

Nobody is looking for 'friends' on Grindr. They auditioned each other sexually (priorities) then stayed together.

Best part.

[quote]Mr. Labarry said he essentially ended contact with his biological parents when he was 18, and was taken in by the family of a close childhood friend. “I made a conscious decision to pull away from them,” Mr. Labarry said of his biological parents, “and have a different kind of family relationship with this other group of individuals.” He added: “And so for me, relationships are really something that somebody decides to do.”

[quote]When Mr. Labarry met Mr. Apreza’s family, he said he felt welcomed by them – and knew that he had found the right person.

Also, the chosen family was Asian.

Mr. Labarry was a rice queen and confused Mr. Apreza with being Filipino.